Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo (c. 1308 – 25 August 1368), better known as Orcagna, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. He worked as a consultant at the Florence Cathedral and supervised the construction of the façade at the Orvieto Cathedral.[1] His Strozzi Altarpiece (1354–57) is noted as defining a new role for Christ as a source of Catholic doctrine and papal authority.[2]

Statue of Andrea Orcagna in the Uffizi outside gallery in Florence carved by Niccolò Bazzanti at Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio Art Gallery, Forence
Statue of Andrea Orcagna in the Uffizi outside gallery in Florence carved by Niccolò Bazzanti at Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio Art Gallery, Florence

Works

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Orcagna's works include:

  • "Altarpiece of the Redeemer" (1354–57) in the Strozzi di Mantova Chapel at Santa Maria Novella, Florence
  • The tabernacle in Orsanmichele (finished 1359) which was regarded as "the most perfect work of its kind in Italian Gothic".[3]
  • His fresco The Triumph of Death inspired Franz Liszt's masterwork Totentanz.
  • His fresco Crucifixion with a multitude of angels surrounding the cross, portrayed on a dark background and a few fragments of the Last Supper (1365).[4]

The mosaic decoration and the rose window of the cathedral of Orvieto is attributed to Orcagna, who had become Master of the Works in 1359.

Pupils

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Among Orcagna's pupils and legacy were:

References

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  1. ^ "UFFIZI GALLERY". www.museumsinflorence.com.
  2. ^ Eimerl, Sarel (1967). The World of Giotto: c. 1267–1337. et al. Time-Life Books. p. 187. ISBN 0-900658-15-0.
  3. ^ "Orcagna". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  4. ^ "Cenacolo by Andrea". www.visitflorence.com.
  5. ^ Bryan, Michael (1889). Walter Armstrong; Robert Edmund Graves (eds.). Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. Vol. II L-Z. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 586.
  6. ^ Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, Volume 1, by Giorgio Vasari, Editor G. C. Sansoni, (1906); page 609.
  7. ^ Vasari, page 610.
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